Hanging With The Pumpkins

I knew that Sam and I would get to go to the pumpkin patch with our friends while Jack was in school, but since I wanted to avoid the pumpkin patch on the weekend I wasn't sure when I was going to be able to take Jack.  I was really happy, then, when he ended up having Columbus Day off!  It was sort of a random holiday so not a lot of people had it off and I could take him to the patch and avoid the regular weekend crowds.  Plus, it was far enough ahead of Halloween that not a lot of people were ready to hit up a pumpkin patch yet!  It was perfect, and I knew exactly where I wanted to go.  We had been to the Irvine Park Railroad for their Easter celebration before, but we hadn't even gotten around to getting there during their pumpkin patch.  We had a really great time!  Jack and Sam did a great job navigating the hay bale maze, they both enjoyed putting their heads through the photo-op holes, checking out pumpkins, going on a hay ride and  a train ride, making and eating cookies, panning for gold, and Jack even got to drive both of them around in a John Deere jeep!  My animal loving Sam even got to ride a pony while Jack and I led him around (Jack was too big for the walking ponies and the trot ponies were closed)!  I decided that I'd like to make it an annual Columbus Day event since we had such a great time.  Hopefully next time daddy will be able to join us!

 

 

I couldn't believe how big they were!  I also can't believe how much they've grown since then :) 

 

 

Jack took such good care of his brother in the hay bale maze!  

 

He also did a great job driving them around!  I thought for sure he would be a crazy driver but he did a really good job not crashing.  Sam was a very trusting passenger, too!  They had a blast with this one!

 

This is still my desktop background on my laptop ;) 

We saw pretty peacocks on our train ride, and then we took a hay ride (and surprisingly Jack's allergies didn't get too bad!

 

And the boys had so much fun panning for gold, despite Sam getting a little bit of sand in his mouth ;) 

 

 

Both of the boys said that making... okay, actually eating... the cookies was their favorite part!  They sure did have fun with that :) 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop was the pony ride before heading home.  It was so fun, and Sam and Jack both slept in the car on the way home... which never happens, but definitely was a welcome surprise!